Analog Science Fiction & Fact, November/December 2023

Astounding/Analog

by Trevor Quachri (Editor), Rajnar Vajra, Rosemary Claire Smith

Vol. XCIII, Issue 11 & 12.

Contents:
4 • Celebrate! • [Editorial (Analog)] • essay by Emily Hockaday
8 • Apollo in Retrograde • novelette by Rosemary Claire Smith
32 • Dune and Superdune • [Science Fact (Analog)] • essay by Kevin Walsh
38 • The Eiffel Tower of Trappist-1D • novelette by Jeff Reynolds
51 • Proxima Centauri Blues • short story by Michael Cassutt
62 • Wasted Potential • short story by David Lee Zweifler
68 • The Disease Collector • short story by Tom Jolly
71 • Genetic Certainty • poem by Ken Poyner
72 • Subtraction • short story by James Sallis
74 • In Times to Come (Analog, November/December 2023) • [In Times to Come (Analog)] • essay by uncredited
75 • Going Through a Phase • short story by Geoffrey A. Landis
77 • The QGP Critical Point • [The Alternate View] • essay by John G. Cramer
79 • Hippolyta Flyby • short story by Michael Capobianco
84 • Home for Christmas • short story by Ron Collins
88 • Andromeda • short story by Monica Joyce Evans
90 • Tool Consciousness • [Tohrroid] • short story by Auston Habershaw
99 • Auston Habershaw • [Biolog] • essay by Richard A. Lovett
100 • The White Tiger • novelette by Mark Pantoja
121 • What Xenologists Read • poem by Mary Soon Lee
122 • The Far Dark • short story by Gregory Benford
135 • An Infestation of Blue • short story by Wendy N. Wagner
140 • The Science Education of King Cormac • short story by Stephen R. Loftus-Mercer
143 • Let's Play • short story by Bruce McAllister
144 • Living on the Trap • short story by Michèle Laframboise
153 • Family Business • short story by Andrew Dana Hudson and Corey J. White
173 • Flying Carpet • novella by Rajnar Vajra
182 • While the Rat's Away • short story by Kate MacLeod
199 • Rajnar Vajra: 1947-2023 (obit) • essay by uncredited
200 • The Reference Library (Analog, November/December 2023) • [The Reference Library] • essay by Rosemary Claire Smith
200 • Review of non-genre non-fiction book: "How to Astronaut: An Insider's Guide to Leaving the Planet" by Terry Virts • essay by Rosemary Claire Smith
208 • Brass Tacks (Analog, November/December 2023) • [Brass Tacks] • essay by various
208 • Upcoming Events (Analog, November/December 2023) • [Upcoming Events] • essay by Anthony R. Lewis [as by Anthony Lewis]

【 PREVIOUS ISSUE ← November/December 2023 → NEXT ISSUE 】

Genres: Science Fiction

212 pages, digest magazine

First published November 6, 2023

About the author

Trevor Quachri (b. 1976) has been the sixth editor of Analog Science Fiction & Fact magazine since September 2012.

Previously, he was “a Broadway stagehand, collected data for museums, and executive produced a science fiction pilot for a basic cable channel.”

Quachri started as an editorial assistant in 1999 at Asimov's Science Fiction and Analog. Former editor of Analog, Ben Bova, was an early influence.

Reviews

[Oleksandr Zholud · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the November/December 2023 issue of Analog Science Fiction and Fact. As usual, a few good pieces, and several fillers.
Contents:
Celebrate! [Editorial (Analog)] essay by Emily Hockaday Magazine’s awards were given and there was a party, first since COVID-19. Glad for the winners!
Apollo in Retrograde novelette by Rosemary Claire Smith This is a continuation of Analog July/August 2021 story set in an alt-history 1960s space brace with Ukrainian ex-Soviet cosmonaut, who defected to the USA, Natalya Orlova. This time it is the early 1970s, Jacqueline Kennedy is a co-director of NASA and there
has been just another disaster on Apollo 13. This almost halts the program, but they gather a team, this time with two women for another Moon landing. After the successful landing, they found out that there was a deadly accident on Soviet Moon station Zvezda. Orlova recalls her small kid playing with a toy car: Vroom, vroom! And volunteers to save him. Overall, the story is passable but not especially memorable. 3*
Dune and Superdune [Science Fact (Analog)] essay by Kevin Walsh how Earth would look like with 1/10 to 1/1000 of its surface water? How scientists created and run a model of Arrakis environment (there would be rains but in a narrow band and very weak). 4*
The Eiffel Tower of Trappist-1D novelette by Jeff Reynolds there is a dying out mining town colony planet, nothing to mine and no other trade. One of the inhabitants decides to use mining equipment to recreate all great constructions from (now destroyed) Earth from local rocks, from the Taj Mahal to Mount Rushmore. They succeed, but no tourists, they despair, but finally ships arrive… 3*
Proxima Centauri Blues short story by Michael Cassutt a man on a mission to assassinate the second richest person on Earth. He is motivated by revenge: he was a chief engineer on a project to create a generational ship to go to Proxima Centauri. Suddenly, after a hundred colonists were selected and sleep-frozen, she halts the project without a comment. It turns out that centuries ago a similar ship came from there and now aliens monitor us. Moreover, their ship now breaks away 3.5*
Wasted Potential short story by David Lee Zweifler a man wants a exciting job (“Why settle for a venture capital firm in New York when you can be leaving broken hulls and broken hearts in your wake as a space pirate in the Andromeda system?”) but never gets one, discusses this with his AI-managed coffee pot (“Don’t touch me!” the coffee machine said. “I am sentient, and I do not consent. This is noted.”), recalls that his girlfriend gets much better proposals, digs onto why. A nice humorous piece. 3.5*
The Disease Collector short story by Tom Jolly An unknown plague kills 97% of mankind, the remaining build a time machine and travel to all known historical epidemics to find a culprit. 3*
Genetic Certainty poem by Ken Poyner
Subtraction short story by James Sallis flash fic about torturing an alien butler, for his supposed treason. 2*
Going Through a Phase short story by Geoffrey A. Landis flash fic about a mad scientist and his discovery. 3*
The QGP Critical Point [The Alternate View] essay by John G. Cramer about a super-critical fluid made of quarks and gluons, which is called a quark-gluon plasma (QGP). 2.5*
Hippolyta Flyby short story by Michael Capobianco a AI on a mission to Alpha Centauri B unexpectedly decides to delete itself. With light traveling 4 years each way to give new orders is impossible in time. It turns out that during the training AI watched Space Odyssey and was afraid to turn into HAL-9000. Luckily, a backup AI automatically loaded 2.5*
Home for Christmas short story by Ron Collins yet another take on Einstein’s twins’ paradox, a young father visits his 80 y.o. son on X-mas. 2.5*
Andromeda short story by Monica Joyce Evans a young female student Biddie shows another human around her university. She modded herself to better work with alien hippos, but her guest is to narrow minded… 3*
Tool Consciousness [Tohrroid] short story by Auston Habershaw continuation of adventures of a shape-shifter, Analog version of Murderbot. Tohrroids are despised across the galaxy, but he can be anyone (mass ought to remain unchanged), so now he is hired to irradiate eggs of competing groups on a planet. He follows his employer to find a reason why. Light adventure. 4*
Auston Habershaw [Biolog] essay by Richard A. Lovett about the author from above.
The White Tiger novelette by Mark Pantoja a group of humans just out of a cold sleep appear next to the giant transport with the title’s name. They have to restore it to travel (all flights slower than light), because of an alien thread. They find a robot inside, who tells them about a figure made of shifting planes of light that kills humans… there is a lot happening but no clear plot, so it hasn’t worked for me. 2*
What Xenologists Read poem by Mary Soon Lee
The Far Dark short story by Gregory Benford a very hard SF about an AI probe from Earth that meets energy beings, and tries to communicate with them. With sentences like “A long red tube in microwave frequencies, with many small openings, like puckers or pores. And a big tubular opening—a mouth?—at the head of it. Head? Yes, it moved forward, and the front canyon of it weaved as if it was scanning its surroundings. A magnetic funnel-mouth. Cruising. Picking up plasma pockets to fatten itself. A huge magnetic tube worm larger than Earth.” Interesting but it’s a classic scientifiction. 3*
An Infestation of Blue short story by Wendy N. Wagner A dog-narrator wakes up and its mind has been enhanced. It tries to recall the past and understand the present. His mistress is dead and her husband doesn’t believe she committed a suicide… 3*
The Science Education of King Cormac short story by Stephen R. Loftus-Mercer a strange mix of old and modern – a king believes to augurs, but not his scientifically educated sister, who uses words like “peer review”. A humorous piece. 3*
Let's Play short story by Bruce McAllister a flash fic children playing robots or vice versa. 2*
Living on the Trap short story by Michèle Laframboise a strange piece, for it is very vague on the background – supposedly a mostly forgotten colony the Trap aka Trapeze-B, one peculiarity – no stars are seen. The protagonist-narrator is a young girl. There are tourists, who sometimes visit the colony. Items used cannot be replaced, so they are recycled… 2*
Family Business short story by Andrew Dana Hudson and Corey J. White a solid idea, each short piece is a generation of the family aptly named Weathersmiths. The first one we observe, buys a piece of degraded land to restore it as a ‘guilt-pay’ for his mom oil extracting business; then his daughter exaggerates quality of their restoration and carbon-capturing technic to get much more land; then her son on a mission to apologize for her blunders and join forces with Native Americans… this could have boon larger. 4*
While the Rat's Away short story by Kate MacLeod a religious commune from Mars bought a passage to another planet. They hired a suspicious guy named Kolya, but instead of half-a-year of cold sleep they are awake and find stowaways. Kolya suggests ‘Cold Equations’, but brothers and sisters disagree and this helps to uncover the truth. 3.5*
Flying Carpet novella by Rajnar Vajra a near future mystery. AI is in every house, the protagonist is the IT expert for Hartford's Police Department, married with two women smarter than he You’re in a three-way marriage, right? What’s that like?” He smirked, winning no points with me.
“Complicated.” And not at all what you imagine.. Recently three families were poisoned by CO excess in their houses, but even the oldest house AI constantly checks for it, so there was one smart hacker, even while the protagonist is sure the multilayered system (smart houses linked to smart grid, which records all accesses) cannot be hacked. A solid mystery from ubiquitous surveillance future, sadly the author’s last. 4*
Rajnar Vajra: 1947-2023 (obit) essay by uncredited RIP, he sounds like an interesting writer, the novella above was good
The Reference Library (Analog, November/December 2023) [The Reference Library] essay by Rosemary Claire Smith among reviewed two novels, which ended up Hugo nominees in 2024

[John Loyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

8 • Apollo in Retrograde • 24 pages by Rosemary Claire Smith
Good/OK. A continuing alternate history featuring Natalya Orlova, a cosmonaut that defected to the US and became one of the first astronauts on the moon. It’s a couple years later now, an accident has slowed enthusiasm for space and although America made it to the moon first it now looks like we’re losing the space race.

38 • The Eiffel Tower of Trappist-1D • 13 pages by Jeff Reynolds
Good/OK. Trappist is slowly dying, like a ghost town. Ernie and Kate are planning to leave until Harv comes up with a crazy idea to recreate some of Earth’s great architectural marvels.

51 • Proxima Centauri Blues • 11 pages by Michael Cassutt
OK/Good. Lucas is disgruntled because the Centauri project he had worked on for thirty years was shut down. Three years later he has worked up enough anger to shoot Agnes, the project’s boss.

62 • Wasted Potential • 6 pages by David Lee Zweifler
Good+. Elliot is job hunting and not seeing anything good. He’s getting depressed. After glancing at Daphne’s search and seeing her potential he feels that he’s holding her back.

68 • The Disease Collector • 4 pages by Tom Jolly
Good. Peter is going back in time searching for the progenitor of the virus that is currently causing a worldwide pandemic. The hopes are battling this weaker variant will help them fight the deadly one.

72 • Subtraction • 3 pages by James Sallis
Fair. Butler after spying on his boss for seven years is now being interrogated, but only spouts off cliches and quotes.

75 • Let's Play • 1 pages by Bruce McAllister
OK+. Lucas wonders what playing robots means.

79 • Hyppolyta Flyby • 5 pages by Michael Capobianco
OK. The primary AI on the space probe failed or deleted itself at the most critical portion of the mission.

84 • Home for Christmas • 4 pages by Ron Collins
OK. A time dilated father meets his eighty year old son for Christmas in order to scatter his wife’s ashes. Did will stop by the cliffs every Christmas or did the father just get lucky that it was the correct year when he got back? Maybe the year was set in advance.

88 • Andromeda • 2 pages by Monica Joyce Evans
Fair. Biddie is the token human student. She is asks to give a tour, potential student?, because the tourists are a human family. I wasn’t clear on what point the story made. Possibly that Biddie was more comfortable living with non-humans than where she grew up.

90 • Tool Consciousness • 10 pages by Auston Habershaw
Very Good/Excellent. Our Tohrroid hero is doing sub-contract work for Ada, killing Thraad while they’re still in the egg. Something about the balance of power in Thraad society. Faceless (as she named him) wonders what her ultimate goal is.

100 • The White Tiger • 21 pages by Mark Pantoja
Fair/poor. A crew is sent to The White Tiger, 2ui’s home, to bring it back. They find it severely damaged by aliens, but some parts still working. They even find some survivors. I got lost, the aliens were just nameless, destructive forces with no known motivation. (Expansion? Berzerkers? What?) I didn’t even follow sentient engines that might or might not trust the crew that came on board.

122 • The Far Dark • 12 pages by Gregory Benford
Fair. An intelligent probe is making contact with plasma beings. Beings that want the cold dwellers to stop expanding into their territory. Too alien for me, I didn’t connect.

134 • An Infestation of Blue • 6 pages by Wendy N. Wagner
Very Good. We alternate from the dog’s perspective and that of the human in finding out what happened to the woman, and why does the dog now have all these words in her head.

140 • The Science Education of King Cormac • 3 pages by Stephen R. Loftus-Mercer
Very Good/Good. Cormac is listening to his soothsayer about water levels, rather than his sister who has science behind her.

143 • Going Through a Phase • 1 pages by Geoffrey A. Landis
OK+. A professor, mad scientist sort, invents a machine to let him walk through walls.

144 • Living on the Trap • 9 pages by Michele Laframboise
Good. Nalene’s family was on the first colony ship to Trapeze. Unfortunately they weren’t the first to arrive. By the time the did all that was left was pretty inhospitable.

153 • Family Business • 9 pages by Andrew Dana Hudson, Corey J. White
Good/OK. The family business is trying to reverse greenhouse effects by putting carbon back into the ground. Through the generations the Weathersmiths have gone from aggressively seeking profits to cleaning up after their ancestors.

162 • While the Rat's Away • 10 pages by Kate Macleod
OK/Good. Missionaries are woken from cold sleep early because of stowaways. Kolya isn’t going to feed the stowaways, but the paying passengers share. Still the stowaways aren’t remorseful at all, and keep thrusting their ideas around.

172 • Flying Carpet • 27 pages by Rajnar Vajra
Very Good+. Families have been murdered by carbon monoxide poisoning. Dev investigates as an officer on the case and Jackson as the IT specialist. It’s an impossible crime, hacking the home computers to not only generate the CO, but to not wake the sleeping residents and alert emergency isn’t doable. On top of that the CARPET system that integrates all the cameras in the city would show intruders. Mystery with SF elements.

Merged review:

8 • Apollo in Retrograde • 24 pages by Rosemary Claire Smith
Good/OK. A continuing alternate history featuring Natalya Orlova, a cosmonaut that defected to the US and became one of the first astronauts on the moon. It’s a couple years later now, an accident has slowed enthusiasm for space and although America made it to the moon first it now looks like we’re losing the space race.

38 • The Eiffel Tower of Trappist-1D • 13 pages by Jeff Reynolds
Good/OK. Trappist is slowly dying, like a ghost town. Ernie and Kate are planning to leave until Harv comes up with a crazy idea to recreate some of Earth’s great architectural marvels.

51 • Proxima Centauri Blues • 11 pages by Michael Cassutt
OK/Good. Lucas is disgruntled because the Centauri project he had worked on for thirty years was shut down. Three years later he has worked up enough anger to shoot Agnes, the project’s boss.

62 • Wasted Potential • 6 pages by David Lee Zweifler
Good+. Elliot is job hunting and not seeing anything good. He’s getting depressed. After glancing at Daphne’s search and seeing her potential he feels that he’s holding her back.

68 • The Disease Collector • 4 pages by Tom Jolly
Good. Peter is going back in time searching for the progenitor of the virus that is currently causing a worldwide pandemic. The hopes are battling this weaker variant will help them fight the deadly one.

72 • Subtraction • 3 pages by James Sallis
Fair. Butler after spying on his boss for seven years is now being interrogated, but only spouts off cliches and quotes.

75 • Let's Play • 1 pages by Bruce McAllister
OK+. Lucas wonders what playing robots means.

79 • Hyppolyta Flyby • 5 pages by Michael Capobianco
OK. The primary AI on the space probe failed or deleted itself at the most critical portion of the mission.

84 • Home for Christmas • 4 pages by Ron Collins
OK. A time dilated father meets his eighty year old son for Christmas in order to scatter his wife’s ashes. Did will stop by the cliffs every Christmas or did the father just get lucky that it was the correct year when he got back? Maybe the year was set in advance.

88 • Andromeda • 2 pages by Monica Joyce Evans
Fair. Biddie is the token human student. She is asks to give a tour, potential student?, because the tourists are a human family. I wasn’t clear on what point the story made. Possibly that Biddie was more comfortable living with non-humans than where she grew up.

90 • Tool Consciousness • 10 pages by Auston Habershaw
Very Good/Excellent. Our Tohrroid hero is doing sub-contract work for Ada, killing Thraad while they’re still in the egg. Something about the balance of power in Thraad society. Faceless (as she named him) wonders what her ultimate goal is.

100 • The White Tiger • 21 pages by Mark Pantoja
Fair/poor. A crew is sent to The White Tiger, 2ui’s home, to bring it back. They find it severely damaged by aliens, but some parts still working. They even find some survivors. I got lost, the aliens were just nameless, destructive forces with no known motivation. (Expansion? Berzerkers? What?) I didn’t even follow sentient engines that might or might not trust the crew that came on board.

122 • The Far Dark • 12 pages by Gregory Benford
Fair. An intelligent probe is making contact with plasma beings. Beings that want the cold dwellers to stop expanding into their territory. Too alien for me, I didn’t connect.

134 • An Infestation of Blue • 6 pages by Wendy N. Wagner
Very Good. We alternate from the dog’s perspective and that of the human in finding out what happened to the woman, and why does the dog now have all these words in her head.

140 • The Science Education of King Cormac • 3 pages by Stephen R. Loftus-Mercer
Very Good/Good. Cormac is listening to his soothsayer about water levels, rather than his sister who has science behind her.

143 • Going Through a Phase • 1 pages by Geoffrey A. Landis
OK+. A professor, mad scientist sort, invents a machine to let him walk through walls.

144 • Living on the Trap • 9 pages by Michele Laframboise
Good. Nalene’s family was on the first colony ship to Trapeze. Unfortunately they weren’t the first to arrive. By the time the did all that was left was pretty inhospitable.

153 • Family Business • 9 pages by Andrew Dana Hudson, Corey J. White
Good/OK. The family business is trying to reverse greenhouse effects by putting carbon back into the ground. Through the generations the Weathersmiths have gone from aggressively seeking profits to cleaning up after their ancestors.

162 • While the Rat's Away • 10 pages by Kate Macleod
OK/Good. Missionaries are woken from cold sleep early because of stowaways. Kolya isn’t going to feed the stowaways, but the paying passengers share. Still the stowaways aren’t remorseful at all, and keep thrusting their ideas around.

172 • Flying Carpet • 27 pages by Rajnar Vajra
Very Good+. Families have been murdered by carbon monoxide poisoning. Dev investigates as an officer on the case and Jackson as the IT specialist. It’s an impossible crime, hacking the home computers to not only generate the CO, but to not wake the sleeping residents and alert emergency isn’t doable. On top of that the CARPET system that integrates all the cameras in the city would show intruders. Mystery with SF elements.

[Michael Goodine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just three stars for the issue, as there is a greater than usual number of not very good stories. But, still, there is much to like here. I enjoyed:

"Apollo in Retrograde," by Rosemary Claire Smith, which continues her alternate history of the American space program. Defector Natalya Ortova yearns to go back to the moon. Will she get an opportunity? Read on!

"The Eiffel Tower of Trappist-1D" by Jeff Reynolds, which is an example of what I think the kids call "Cozy SF" nowadays. Residents of a dusty outer space backwater come up with a plan to attract tourists that might revive their economy.

"Wasted Potential" by David Lee Zweifler, which is one of the funniest things I've read in Analog for some time. Eliot, who is a bit of a loser, experiences a crisis when he realizes he might be holding his girlfriend back from achieving better things in life.

"Tool Consciousness" by Austin Habershaw, which continues the story of the Tohrroid shapeshifter which has appeared now in four issues dating back to 2019. This might be the best of the issue, if you have been following along since then.

"Living on the Trap" by Michele Laframboise.,which is a nice bit of hard SF, which is the whole reason anyone buys Analog in the first place.

"Flying CARPET" by Rajnar Vajra, which is a nice little SF mystery story by a longtime contributor to the magazine.

[Romuald · Rating 3 out of 5]

☆☆☆☆☆ (excellent):
The Disease Collector by Tom Jolly

☆☆☆☆ (good):
Proxima Centauri Blues by Michael Cassutt
Hippolyta Flyby by Michael Capobianco
Family Business by Andrew Dana Hudson and Corey J. White
Flying Carpet by Rajnar Vajra

☆☆☆ (ok):
Apollo in Retrograde by Rosemary Claire Smith
The Eiffel Tower of Trappist-1D by Jeff Reynolds
Home for Christmas by Ron Collins
Tool Consciousness by Auston Habershaw
The White Tiger by Mark Pantoja
The Far Dark by Gregory Benford
An Infestation of Blue by Wendy N. Wagner
The Science Education of King Cormac by Stephen R. Loftus-Mercer
While the Rat's Away by Kate MacLeod

☆☆ (weak)
Wasted Potential by David Lee Zweifler
Living on the Trap by Michèle Laframboise

☆ (not clear why it was written at all)
Subtraction by James Sallis
Andromeda by Monica Joyce Evans

[Daniel Farrelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Proxima Centauri Blues by Michael Cassutt - a laid off employee seeks revenge on their boss. I really enjoyed this one. It ended a little flat, I don't think the zinger closing line really worked, but no otherwise I thought it was great.

Wasted Potential by David Lee Zweifler - in the future, a man looks through his job offers. Pretty funny. He has a coffee maker which is just a star wars droid; I love that it has an electron microscope for measuring coffee grounds, but to measure milk froffyness all it has is a tiny robot arm to prod the coffee. Good and wholesome and funny, well paced.

The Disease Collector by Tom Jolly - a time traveller samples various diseases through history. I really liked it, but I think it was a bit rushed. It really could have been twice as long. All the conversations were nebulous, without any descriptions to ground them, other than one that merely mentioned them being in a cafeteria. If your going to go time travelling, I would have liked to spend some time in each of those settings. It was really good, I just wanted more.

Subtraction by James Sallis - a guy finds out that his alien butler, named Butler, was spying on him, and interrogates them. I didn't get it. I was kind of getting into it, then the butler started talking crazy and then the story just stops. 🤷

Hyppolyta Flyby Michael Capobianco - dnf. A bunch of people at NASA have some boring meetings about some computer thing. I didn't really understand what was going on or what they were talking about or why I should care. Classify this as too smart for my poo-brain.

Home for Christmas by Ron Collins - a man and his son spread the mothers ashes. An exploration of time dilation. Really enjoyed it. Well written. Sad.

Andromeda by Monica Joyce Evans - hatoful boyfriend but with hippos and no dating. The main character gives a tour of their school. Complete nothing burger. Like, what was even the point?

The Far Dark by Gregory Benford - a satellite detects a space problem and sends messages about it to earth. Not a fan of POVs that are robots, they're usually very stilted. This one was the same, even tho it was trying very hard to be quirky as well. It felt like it was more interested in explaining some random science fantasy bullshit than telling a good story. Dnf.

An Infestation of Blue by Wendy N. Wagner- really good. A story told through the POV of a dog that has just had a brain implant that makes it intelligent. The POV was really well done, the story was really effective, I loved it.

The Science Education of King Cormac by Stephen R. Loftus-Mercer - very silly and funny. A fairy tale about the scientific process in the style of that dragon tyrant story.

Living on the Trap by Michèle Laframboise - wanted to like this one but I didn't. A kid lives in a settlement on an alien planet and a hiker tourist comes to town and gets lost. I guess that's the synopsis but that's not what happens in the story. What happens is the main character explains some world building, breaks some plastic playing cards and then puts on a space suit and walks to where they keep the furnace so he can remould them. And he happens to see the lost hiker so they can rescue her.
I read it twice cause I found it hard to follow. The POV is meant to be a young guy, born on this world, but talks as though he's very familiar with earth. Like he uses smilies and references oak trees and stuff. The writings also a bit hard to follow. It keeps going on about an orbital satellite that's shaped like a piece of shit, that doesn't impact the story at all. After he breaks the plastic cards he says hell need to repair them, and it cuts to him putting a space suit on and doing a walk, without explaining why. I figured he was off to do chores, especially when he began climbing a tower, which I figured was a solar farm or something, it just wasn't clear what was going on. And the story under all that wasn't anything special either.

Family Business by Andrew Dana Hudson & Corey J. White - snapshots of several generations of a carbon sequestration business. I liked it ok, but I would have liked it a whole lot more if it was made a bit more reader friendly. Every couple paragraphs we jump to the next descendant to own the company, but this isn't explained initially, the length of the time gap isn't explained, and each snapshot is completely distinct. Sometimes one foreshadows a minor plot beat that happens in the next, but then it's dropped forever without any major through line. It's hard to tell if the company is doing well or badly, and sometimes it seems that it's doing very well, only for characters to tell the audience that actually it's the opposite. Then at one stage they randomly start talking about dolphins and crabs, seemingly as a point of scientific study, only to randomly jokingly suggest hiring them as workers. Bit of a non-sequitar, but then in the next segment they're dealing with the dolphins going on strike. Why did you randomly drop dolphin people into your story about farming and carbon sequestration with no explanation?

Yeah, I it's just not very reader friendly. It would have been a lot better if only minor things were adjusted so that I wasn't getting whiplash every 2 pages.

While the Rats Away by Kate MacLeod - a bunch of religious people are on an interplanetary flight to a new settlement world, but wake up part way there. Weird stuff is going on, especially with the pilot. It's OK. Bit weird, and pretty predictable. Kinda rushed, don't think this was the best format for this kind of story

Flash fiction -
Going Through a Phase by Geoffrey A. Landis - science joke. I liked it.

Let's Play by Bruce McAllister - I don't get it. Are they robots or not. How dare this flash fiction try to make me think.

[Jeff J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I pick up Analog when I’m in the mood for hard SF, but my favorite story in this issue was an odd fantasy outlier.

[Kevin Phyland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rosemary Claire Smith continues her uplifting series of alternate history tales where Russian defector cosmonaut Natalya Orlova has walked on the Moon as an Apollo astronaut, opening the way for female astronauts. When director Deke Slayton regains flight status he names himself on the last Apollo mission, 17, with Natalya and another female astronaut Jerrie Cobb. Their mission becomes a rescue when a Soviet lander fails on landing in “Apollo In Retrograde”. Jeff Reynolds takes us to a frontier world where a farmer decides to make sculptures of famous Earth landmarks after its destruction in “The Eiffel Tower Of Trappist 1-d”. Michael Capobianco takes us to a nearby star with an unmanned AI probe, but when it voluntarily erases itself it sends a disturbing message in “Hippolyta Flyby”, and Ron Collins gives us a moving reunion between a time-dilated astronaut and his 80yo embittered son in “Home For Christmas”. Faceless is a Torrhoid, an amorphous shape-shifter who is a hired assassin for aliens who do not value him. He exacts a small vengeance in Auston Habershaw’s “Tool Consciousness”. A fortuitous spotting of a daredevil climber stuck on a mountain on a planet of Trapeze leads to a rescue, which proves well worth the expense in “Living On The Trap” by Michele Laframboise, while Kate Macleod provides the most memorable tale of the issue with “While The Rat’s Away”, riffing on The Men In The Walls and The Cold Equations, a group from a religious order find that their trip to a new planet, interrupted by some stowaways, is much more than it seems. Jack is an AI expert working for the police when he is called to explain how a number of families had managed to be asphyxiated by CO in a protected house environment. This is sadly Rajnar Vajra’s last tale and it is a fast-paced police procedural (with a few maguffins) about a homicidal hacker, called “Flying CARPET”.

[Frankenoise · Rating 3 out of 5]

I haven't read a pulp magazine in probably 9 years or so. Decided to pick this one up on a whim, and it was pretty good overall. All the artwork contained inside was good, especially the cover.
With any compilation of stories, there'll be some good and some bad, but I didn't really dislike anything here, even if I rated a story under 5/10. Anyway, below is what I rated some of the stories I read:

*Apollo in Retrograde (8/10)
*Eiffel Tower of Trappist-1D (7/10)
*Proxima Centauri Blues (8/10)
*Wasted Potential (6/10)
*The Disease Collector (6/10)
* The White Tiger (7/10)
*An Infestation of Blue (7/10)
*Living on the Trap (6/10)
*While the Rat's Away (4/10)
*Flying Carpet (8/10)

[Jude Samson]

Many were so short it was a waste of time but what made it intolerable to finish was the narration and how the format of the audiobook.

[Mark Catalfano · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked "WHILE THE RAT’S AWAY" by Kate MacLeod, "FLYING CARPET" by Rajnar Vajra, "APOLLO IN RETROGRADE" by Rosemary Claire Smith, and "AN INFESTATION OF BLUE" by Wendy N. Wagner